Christopher Rotolo, Joseph Reyes, Aakilah Sander, Stephanie

Stilwell| Enc3250 |

SUSTAINABILITY AT UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH

FLORIDA
ST. PETERSBURG

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
-Executive Summary: Pg. 2
-Introduction: Pg. 3-4
-USFSP Unique Position: Pg. 4-5
-ACUPCC Pledge: Pg. 5-6
-LEED Certified Buildings: Pg. 6-7
-Student Organizations: Pg. 6-7
-Duke Energy Partnership: Pg. 7-8
-Other Universities and their Success: Pg. 8-9

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Executive Summary

Over the past decade, the University of South Florida has strived to become a more
environment friendly and sustainable campus. Recent trends have prioritized
sustainability practices and highlighted its importance that our planet as well as our future
generations. Since the year 2006 USF has strived to implement various initiatives to
make the university's campuses more environmentally friendly and reduce the burden
imposed on our planet by its operations. In addition to the implementation of
sustainability projects, USFSP has also spearheaded the Green movement by raising
environmental concerns and spreading awareness of the impact that these choices can
have on our planet. These practices, combined with raising awareness of sustainability
issues are the first crucial steps to repairing the planets natural cycle that has been
disrupted by our lifestyles and accommodations we take for granted.

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Many of these ideas include helping the climate and energy, transportation, the energy
efficient buildings, recycling, water efficiency, and also green purchasing. USF is an
institution apart of the ACUPCC (American College and University's President's Climate
Commitment). As a vital part of this organization, USF is committed to completing a
greenhouse gas inventory, becoming climate neutral, taking steps to minimize gas
emissions, and also make being more sustainable apart of the college curriculum
Introduction
According to the 2015 Revision of the World Population Prospects, published by the
United Nations, the world reached 7.5 billion in July 2015. By the year 2050, they
estimate the world population may reach 9.725 billion. (1) This rapid increase in
population results in overcrowding, increased waste production, and most importantly,
continued over consumption of limited natural resources. How can our world possibly
sustain this growing population, while over consuming the resources that keep our
population and lifestyles afloat?
Our species exponential population growth can be attributed to the equally rapid
development and evolution of various technologies. The Industrial Revolution (17601840) was a period of extensive scientific/agricultural/industrial breakthroughs that have
forever changed our standards of living. Advancements of these technologies have not
only increased our populations average life expectancy well beyond those of previous
generations, but has also allowed us to achieve comforts that most today take for granted.
Although the transition from human labor to the mechanical sort increased production
possibilities to levels once not thought possible, these new technologies also relied
heavily on the extraction and combustion of coal, and later natural gases, to power them.
According to the EPA, Since the Industrial Revolution began around 1750, human
activities have contributed substantially to climate change by adding CO2 and other heattrapping gases to the atmosphere. Innovators at the time had no idea of the limited
quantity of these resources, nor the environmental impact that these shifts in technology
could have on our world. It was not until 1973 that we as a society were forced to face
shortages of non-renewable energy. Although these shortages were politically fueled,
rather than supply fueled, we were forced to analyze and reevaluate the rate at which we
consume these natural resources. According to the United Nations energy program, our
worlds growing population has resulted in a 70% increase in carbon emissions from
1970-2004.( http://www.unep.org/sbci/pdfs/SBCI-BCCSummary.pdf)
According to a 2015 publication from the International Energy Agency
(http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/WEO2015SUM.pdf), energy demands are still
increasing on a global scale, and will continue to increase until the year 2040. Although
developed countries are now actively seeking ways to decrease their carbon footprint,
developing countries are still focused on making these modern conveniences to their own
people. Developing countries such as India, where as much as 1/5 of the population
(estimated 235 million people) do not have access to electricity, means that they are more
likely to utilize non-sustainable energy sources and contribute to our growing emission

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and pollution problems. Attempting to spread awareness of these global issues, as well as
trying to reverse any damage that weve done to our planets natural cycles has become
one of the most prominent social movements of our time.
Our natural ability to reproduce and increase population overpowers our planets natural
ability to generate these resources that sustain these populations. Climate change brought
upon by greenhouse gases, eradication of ecosystems by industrialization and urban
expansion, and chemical pollution of waterways are all a result of a globalized, high
output, high consumption society. Although we have only recently gained a minimal
understanding of the implications of our wasteful habits, a vast amount of uncertainty still
exists regarding the full impact these advancements will have on future generations wellbeing. According to a publication by Yale University
(http://www.econ.yale.edu/~nordhaus/homepage/documents/CohenScience_carrying_cap
.pdf) scientists estimate the earths carrying capacity to be somewhere between 7.8 and
12.5 billion. Regardless of which number better represents our planets true carrying
capacity, we are entering a crucial time period where we are on the cusp of
overpopulating our world and exhausting natural resources.
Who should be responsible for spreading awareness of environmental concerns and
developing strategies to overcome these obstacles?

Luckily, today we are in the midst of a sort of environmental awakening. Going Green
campaigns, the pursuit of legislation to reduce carbon emission, as well as manufacturers,
consumers and government agencies decreasing environmental impacts have all
contributed to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and waste.
Our Unique Position
Although sustainability is a relatively new concept, young students entering university for
the first time more than likely already have an established understanding of the problems
posed by our growing population. Its common knowledge that the best way to reduce our
impact to this planet is to treat our resources as limited; the conscious choice to consume
less while re-using/recycling materials that would otherwise be set in landfills could have
tremendous impacts in just one persons lifetime. This sort of environmental
consciousness can be amplified throughout a city by community leaders. Ideas could be
exchanged and budgets set; funding can go directly to sustainability efforts. This sounds
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easy enough. However, in order to create a long-term sustainability plan, there needs to
be directive established by knowledgeable institutions that are in a position to further
influence communities and populations on a larger scale.

Universities and other institutions of higher education are in a unique position to

influence communities develop sustainable practices and technologies. Colleges and
universities are breeding ground for innovation; eager students are guided by
interdisciplinary experts while grants and funding allows for the development,
improvement and implementation of green technologies and strategies. Universities are
also a conjunction of academia and community, a position which can be used to influence
cities to adopt sustainability practices by leading by example. Funding sustainability
practices and research has helped us achieve efficiency levels we never thought possible.
Academic institutions are responsible for a large portion of developing technologies that
will no doubt have a great impact on our planet. As long as environmental concerns are
continually addressed, and sustainable technologies continue to be invested in, we are on
a direct path to resolve our energy and waste issues.
The University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, along with many other institutions of
high education, have tasked themselves to be leaders in environmental sustainability and
waste reduction strategies. At USFSP, we have committed ourselves to reducing our
carbon footprint, and have also pledged to have a net-zero emission by the year 2070.
ACUPCC Pledge
In 2008, St. Petersburg, Florida was the first city in our state to become a green city. this
city wide initiative is mirrored by our own campuss strides to increase sustainability
practices, raise awareness to environmental issues and influence community members to
protect our natural resources. Green initiatives are a multi-faceted task and require multidisciplinary experts inputs to make these concepts a reality. Our campus has a goal of
eventually achieving a net-zero carbon footprint, and USFSP made a formal commitment
to that goal on Earth Day, 2013.
Jennifer Winter, USFSPs Sustainability Coordinator signed the American College and
University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) on April 22, 2013. To date, over
600 universities around the country have signed this commitment, which urges
universities to develop an action plan to become climate neutral at an estimated date.
(http://www.usfsp.edu/sustainability/climate/) Universities indeed are in a unique position
to emphasize the importance of sustainability practices to communities.
What does an ACUPCC pledge mean for our campus?
Establish an institutional structure to oversee the development and
implementation of the schools program
Complete an emissions inventory within a year and annually thereafter,
Establish a climate neutrality action plan,

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Take some immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, integrating

sustainability into the curriculum and making their climate action plan
Carbon Emission inventory and progress reports publicly available.

The estimated date to achieve net-zero emissions for our campus is 2070, which means
that today, any environmentally-conscious practice, no matter how small, takes us one
step closer to our campus emission inventory showing zero net carbon emissions.
(http://reporting.secondnature.org/site_media/uploads/cap/607-cap.pdf). The pledge that
University of South Florida made to the APUPCC has helped us establish our
commitment to sustainability and since then, our campus has made huge efforts to uphold
that commitment. Projects both large and small have been undertaken in a still-growing
effort to reduce our carbon footprint. The construction of gold standard LEED buildings
on campus, as part of the APUPCC, is the most expensive and environmentally beneficial
sustainability effort made to date.
LEED Certified Buildings
The demolition, construction and operations of buildings and facilities are a large
contributor to waste and greenhouse gases. According to the United Nations Energy
Plan, It is estimated that at present, buildings contribute as much as one third of total
global greenhouse gas emissions, primarily through the use of fossil fuels during their
operational phase.
According to the United States Green Building Council, More than 13.8 billion
square feet of building space are LEED-certified (as of August, 2015). 41 percent of all
nonresidential building starts in 2012 were green, as compared to 2 percent of all
nonresidential building starts in 2005. LEED is referenced in project specifications for 71
percent of projects valued at $50 million, which is the most ever to become LEED
certified in a single calendar year. 2015 looks to be another record-breaking year with
2,870 projects certified representing nearly 464 million square feet of real estate as of
August 1, 2015.
Sustainable Buildings at USFSP
USF St. Petersburg exhibits a unique influence to the St. Petersburg community
relating to the construction of new buildings. LEED certification stands for Leadership in
Energy & Environmental Design and is part of the commitment USFSP made to the
APUPCC. In order for a new building to be LEED certified, they must meet various
prerequisites and satisfy a number of standards in order to receive one of several types of
LEED certification. The certification levels range from silver, gold to platinum. USFSP
has committed to all of its new building constructions to meet at least the silver
requirement, with its two latest constructions meeting the gold standard.

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The new Science & Technology building has obtained the Gold level certification and the
new Kate Tiedemann College of Business is expected to receive Gold certification as
well. LEED certified buildings is a major step for institutions to take, and has been made
a top priority for USFSP as part of ACUPPC.
Student Contributions and the SGEF fund
Another way that USFSP students are able to influence and implement sustainability
projects is through the Student Green Energy Fund.For every credit hour that a student is
enrolled in at USFSP, one dollar ($1) is donated to the Student Green Energy Fund
(SGEF). The fees allocated through the SGEF are to be used strictly towards reducing
energy costs through conservation, promoting power generation using clean, renewable
energy technologies, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Students are encouraged to propose sustainability projects to a committee comprised of
students and faculty. These proposals are voted on, and eventually implemented if they
are approved. Students at each campus within the University of South Florida (USF)
System has the right to vote, via a student body referendum, to approve initiation of the
fee and affirm any subsequent modifications to it on their respective campuses. Every
three years, students will have the opportunity to reaffirm support of the fee via
referendum. Projects are funded mostly by the SGEF, but additional funds are
sometimes gathered from other organizations.
The first meeting for the SGEF took place on January 11th, 2012 and since then has been
responsible for the implementation of many sustainable projects. Some of the most
notable and completed projects include the: Recycling bins, the Bottle Refill Station, and
the Hybrid Truck. The Recycling bins are seen everywhere on the USFSP campus (over
20 bins) and each were created with 937 recycled jugs. The recycling bins are separated
for regular trash, aluminum and plastic. One of the lesser known projects was the hybrid
truck project which was completed in 2013, and it is used for the Waterfront. The hybrid
truck is a Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid, and it has been said to cut down C02 emissions by
6395 pounds per year, and saving over $4, 292 in vehicle expenses for the college.
The Student Green Energy Fund has inspired colleges across the country to adopt similar
strategies.
The SGEF isnt the sole source of on campus sustainability projects though. In the 3rd
quarter of 2015, electricity provider Duke Energy initialized a partnership with USFSP
and posted a $1 million grant to fund solar energy research. To date this money has
funded a large solar energy project on the parking garage as well as electric vehicle
charging stations, currently available free for students.

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Duke Energy Partnership:

Electric cars and public charging stations are a rapidly growing technology as automakers
are competing fiercely to make the most energy efficient vehicles. As electronic cars
become a commodity for those interested in sustaining the environment, many high
traffic areas including colleges have had a need in adding the electronic stations to the
campus. In spring of 2012, USFSP introduced two electronic vehicle charging stations in
the schools main parking garages. The action was funded by a grant from the U.S.
Department of Energy. Within the first year of being introduced, the school kept a close
eye on energy usage and the benefits it could provide to students at no cost. For now,
charging these vehicles requires electricity, which for the most part is generated using
non-sustainable resources, like coal. Though the electric car is much more
environmentally friendly and uses far less resources than gas powered cars, there are still
even more efficient technologies on the horizon.
September 18th of 2014 was an innovative day for the University of South Florida St.
Petersburg. We received a one million dollar grant funded by Duke Energy Florida that
would allow the university to research a way to store energy using solar power. Faculty
from the three main colleges at the university (Arts & Sciences, Business, and Education)
had no problem submitting signed letters agreeing to incorporate the project into their
perspective class syllabus. Alex Glenn the state president for Duke Energy Florida also
showed his enthusiasm by stating, This effort is a true collaboration with USF St.
Petersburg and the USF College of Engineering. This partnership allows us to enhance
our efforts to research and develop alternative energy solutions that will be benefit our
customers and the environment.

Along with receiving a hefty grant, a solar photovoltaic system was installed on the
highest level of the university's parking garage. This system is capable of holding up to
100 kilowatts of energy at a time. Excited electrons are activated, by the rays of the sun,
in which create an electrical charge that can be stored for future use. The structure is
over 7,000 square feet, holds approximately 328 individual solar. Due to its freestanding
configuration students have the capability to park underneath the panels, the university
has measured itself as using a little over 19 million kilowatt-hours for an entire year.
Even though these solar panels only produce an average slightly over 164,000 kilowatthours a year, it still helps the university substantially. One of the most impressive assets
from this structure is the fact that it will bring the parking garages power utilization to
net zero.

Even though Florida has been blessed with countless rays of sunshine, one of the biggest
challenges this project has endured is sustaining power when it is needed most. The

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biggest factor prohibiting the solar panels from a constant flow of energy are the clouds.
To counteract this situation, Duke Energy Florida connected a large battery, engineered
by Tesla Motors, with the capability of retaining power that was absorbed earlier by the
solar panels. The power retained, that is not used immediately, will get preserved and
transmitted into a power grid. Duke energy will use the research gathered from these
power grids to see how much solar energy can be held and used during those cloudy days.

Activation day was May 27th of 2015, seven days after its revelation. USFSP, in
partnership with Duke Energy Florida has become a database for storing natural energy
that can be used for research in helping the entire nation become more educated on using
and storing natural energy. The biggest goal is for the parking structure to become a
certified green building in the future. Other projects have included energy-efficient LED
lights with motion sensors, as well as updated electric car charging stations. As for now,
the university can pride itself in housing the largest solar panel energy source, with the
highest efficiency rate in the country.

As USFSP continues to promote the importance environmental awareness and

sustainability practices, we are no doubt on a direct path set to achieve the ultimate goal
of net-zero carbon emissions. USFSP doing is setting a great example for other
institutions of higher education, but they are not the only ones.
What are other colleges doing?
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Floridas rich environment creates a beautiful campus setting for the vast amount of
universities in the state. Due to the high population of students in the state (roughly
870,000 in fall 2013 according to Floridas Department of Education) on over 13,000
acres of land- it makes it rather attainable for college students to make an impact on their
campus towards sustainability. College students have the ability to influence their peers
and their local community, so many Florida universities have succeeded in making their
campus sustainable and green. Many of the major Florida universities often collide in
rivalry but also come together in unison for positive impacts. University of South Florida
St. Petersburg could obtain knowledge and perform actions from other universities of
Florida to help the campus on its sustainability efforts.
One of the largest and most acknowledge universities nationwide is University of Florida.
UF provides plenty of organizations and clubs for students who are interested in making
impacts for sustainability. With over 21 clubs and organizations for this effort, the amount
of work the university has been able to accomplish is outstanding. According to the UFs
Student Government website,
(http://www.sg.ufl.edu/GovernmentBranches/Executive/Agencies/GatorsGoingGreen/Get
Involved) the university and the students have been able to create agricultural gardens for
sustainable food production. The purpose of the gardens is for students to learn how to
garden organically, without the use of pesticides. An outstanding effort for sustainability
coming from UF is their dining halls collecting pre-consumed and post-consumed food
and using it for compost. University of South Florida St. Petersburg could apply that
sustainability act easily with the different dining areas around campus and improve our
soil on the campus gardens with use of the compost.
Florida Gulf Coast University is a newer university to Florida however, its location in
Fort. Myers Florida makes the university in some of Floridas greenest environment. Due
to the region of water in Fort. Myers, the rainfall and the sunny days-Florida Gulf Coast
University is able to have a beautiful yet, sustainable campus. The largest effort Florida
Gulf Coast has done to promote a sustainable campus is through recycling. According to
their environment blog (http://fgcuenvironment.blogspot.com/) Florida Gulf Coast uses a
renowned waste solution for recycling, Big Belly Solar Compactors which use 100%
energy from the sun to compose the trash-saving fuel from garbage removal.
Over 60,000 students from across the nation are enrolled in University of Central Florida.
With a large population of students it is easy for the university to come up with creative
efforts in a sustainable environment. UCF has dedicated a whole website based on its
sustainability mission (http://sustainable.ucf.edu/) which informs of the student groups
and clubs, as well as events for the non-club member students to get involved as well.
UCF manages over acres of land for conservation, unfortunately the location of
University of South Florida St. Petersburg the school cannot obtain an effort as such. The
land used for conservation has an effect on the campus sustainability efforts however
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USFSP can still learn from organizational acts. One of their superior groups is called
I.D.E.A.S. (Intellectual Decisions on Environmental Awareness Solutions) which
addresses students in engaging in realistic approaches to face the environmental problems
that are taking place.
A feasible concept that University of Central Florida applies to its campus is solar power
energy. According to the universitys sustainable website, a new installation of solar
panels have been introduced to a parking garage-which creates enough energy to power
nearly 50 homes. They also have featured on campus photovoltaic panels that provide
energy as well as shade for students. The photovoltaic panels convert solar energy into
direct electricity using the photovoltaic effect which happens to due exposure to light and
a chemical phenomenon. University of South Florida St. Petersburg would gain
tremendously with the usage of solar panels on campus. With a rather small campus
compared to most universities, it would not take a large amount of panels to effect the
campus energy usage.
Bibliography
http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/
In this particular online reading, it outlines the world's population. It describes the
growing population and also the decline.
http://www.iea.org/Textbase/npsum/WEO2015SUM.pdf
2015 Publication from the International Energy Agency
http://www.econ.yale.edu/~nordhaus/homepage/documents/CohenScience_carrying_
cap.pdf
http://www.usfsp.edu/sustainability/climate/
http://www2.presidentsclimatecommitment.org/pdf/ACUPCC_IG_Final.pdf
http://reporting.secondnature.org/site_media/uploads/cap/607-cap.pdf
http://ce.eng.usf.edu/usfcee/sustainability.htm
http://www.usforacle.com/news/view.php/688972/USF-should-continue-certifyingbuildings
http://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/green-energy-fund/
http://www.usfsp.edu/blog/2014/09/18/duke-energy-to-invest-1-million-in-usfspresearchproject/
http://www.sg.ufl.edu/GovernmentBranches/Executive/Agencies/GatorsGoingGreen/G
etInvolve d

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